Article of footwear including vamp



Dec. 9, 1969 H. H. GRANEK 3,482,338

ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR INCLUDING VAMP Filed Sept. 9. 1968 n UM. J I

INVENTOR A e/144w A4 glen/v5? BYM ATTORNEY United States Patent '0 3,482,338 ARTICLE OF EOOTWEAR INCLUDING VAMP Herman H. Granek, 70-10 Kessel St., Forest Hills, N.Y. 11375 Filed Sept. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 758,543 Int. Cl. A43b 3/12 US. Cl. 3611.5 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A slipper vamp is formed by sewing together a pair of different appearing back-to-back panels along their longitudinal edges and inverting the resulting tube to locate the panel edges inside. The seams are transversely offset from the flattened tube edges to provide the appearance of contrasting rolled edges and the flattened tube is folded along an oblique transverse line and the ends thereof secured to and sandwiched between the slipper sole and inner sole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to improvements in footwear and it relates particularly to an improved slipper vamp construction.

In many types of footwear, for example as typified by the open toe, open back slipper, it is conventional to employ a vamp in the form of a panel secured to the side edges of the sole. Many forms of such vamps have been employed and it is a common practice to provide such vamps with rolled edges or piping along their longitudinal edges for reasons of appearance as well as comfort. However, the construction and methods of production used with this type of vamp possess many drawbacks and disadvantages. They are relatively expensive components of little versatility and reliability, frequently difficult to uniformly produce, and otherwise leave much to be desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved article of footwear.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved slipper.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved slipper vamp construction.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved vamp construction of highly attractive appearance which may be uniformly produced at low cost.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide an improved article of the above nature characterized by its simplicity, ruggedness, adaptability, comfort, and versatility.

The above and other objects of the present invention 4 will become apparent from a reading of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment thereof.

In a sense the presnt invention contemplates the provision of an article of footwear including a sole, and a vamp comprising a flat tubular member formed of a pliable web joined along a longitudinal line proximate adjacent edges of said web, said edges along said longitudinal line being positioned within said tube, said longitudinal line being transversely offset relative to an edge of said tube, and said tube being secured along its end borders to said sole.

The tubular member is formed by arranging a pair of panels in superimposed back to back relationship with parallel substantially coinciding side edges and the panels are secured to each other by lines of stitches adjacent to and parallel to the side edges. The resulting tube is then turned inside out to expose the panel front faces and the panels slid relatively to each other to offset the seams from the flattened tube edges so that a small longitudinal section of each panel is exposed along the edge of the opposite panels, the panels advantageously being of different color or other appearance. The flattened tube is then folded along an oblique line so that opposite sections thereof are relatively inverted and the end borders are cemented between the sole and insole of the article of footwear.

The article of footwear employing the improved vamp is of highly attractive appearance and is simple and inexpensive to produce with a minimum of operations and of great uniformity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a slipper embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the vamp in a first stage of its production;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the vamp in a further stage of its production;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of the finished vamp with the slipper sole.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the reference numeral 10 generally designates the improved article of footwear in the form of a slipper including a sole assembly 12 and a vamp member 14 constructed in accordance with the present invention.

The sole assembly is of any known or conventional construction and includes a main or undersole formed of any desirable material such as leather, a synthetic organic polymeric resin or the like, and an inner sole 16. The inner sole 16 is likewise of conventional construction and may include a preshaped core member covered by a suitable facing material such as a thermoplastic film or sheeting,'woven cloth or the like.

The vamp 14 is produced by superimposing a pair of similarly shaped rectangular panels 16 and 18 in coinciding back-to-back relationship with their front faces contiguous. The back-to-back panels 16 and 18 are then secured to each other by lines of stitches extending proximate and parallel to the longitudinal edges 22 of the panels 16 and 18 leaving the panel transverse edges unattached to form a flat tube. The lines of stitches 20 are advantageously between inch and inch from the adjacent parallel edges 22. The panels 16 and 18 are formed of a highly flexible, pliable web material, such as leather, synthetic sheet material or the like, advantageously a pliable sheeting of a synthetic organic resin such as Saran or polyvinyl chloride sheeting or the like, advantageously of a thickness between .028 and .100 inch and preferably between .040 inch and .060 inch and advantageously reinforced by a woven or knitted cloth backing adherent thereto. The front faces of the panels are advantageously of different appearances, for example, they may be of different preferably contrasting colors.

The tube 24 formed of the panels 16 and 18 is then inverted inside out so that the front faces thereof are the outside surface of the tube 24 and the panel free edges 22 are located inside the tube 24. The panels 16 and 18 are then transversely offset relative to each other so that one longitudinal edge of the panel 16 forms a rolled or tubular edge or border 26 along the cor-.

responding border of the panel 18 and the opposite longitudinal edge of the panel 18 forms a rolled or tubular edge or border 28 along the corresponding-border of the panel 16. The rolled borders 26 and 28, as seen in FIGURES 4 and 5, extend beyond and transversing of the front faces of the opposite respective panels 18 and 16 and provide a highly attractive appearance, particularly when the panels 16 and 18 are of different colors so that the rolled edges 26 and 28 are of different colors than the contiguously viewed panels 16 and 18. The panel free edges 22 project into the interiors of the rolled borders 26 and 28. It should be noted that the size and appearance of the rolled edges 26 and 28 may be varied by adjusting the relative offset of the panel 26 and 28. The distance between the seam or line of stitches 20 and the opposite outer edge of the respective rolled edge 26 or 28 is advantageously between ,4 inch and inch, preferably 71 inch.

The finished flat tube 24 with the exposed rolled edges 26 and 28 is then folded along a diagonal line 30.between the opposite end edges of the flat tube 24. The diagonal fold line 30 extends between points proximate opposite corners of the flat tube 24. The folded tube sections delineated by the line 30 are superimposed with the rolled edge 26 and 28 facing upwardly, as seen in FIG- URE 6. Thus, parts of both panels 16 and 18 are visibly exposed as are the full length of the rolled edge 28 and a part of the length of the rolled edge 26.

The end borders of the vamp defining folded tube 24 are secured to opposite edges of the sole assembly 12 in any suitable manner such as by sandwiching the vamp end borders between the confronting faces of the main and inner soles and cementing them thereto. The end borders of the finished vamp may be suitably trimmed to facilitate and expedite their anchoring to the sole assembly 12.

While there has been described an illustrated preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is apparent that ..numerous. alterations,.omissions and additions may be made without departing from the spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. An article of footwear including a sole, and a vamp comprising a flat tubular member formed of a pliable web joined along a longitudinal line proximate adjacent edges of said Web, said edges along said longitudinal line being positioned within said tube, saidlongitudinal line being transversely offset relative to an edge of said tube, and said tube being secured along its end borders to said sole.

2. The article of claim 1, wherein said free edges are spaced from said longitudinal line between inch and inch. V

3. The article of claim 1, wherein the distance between said longitudinal line and the proximate opposite outer edge of said tube is between inch and inch. 1

4. The article of claim 1, wherein said vamp in formed of superimposed panels of said pliable web joined along longitudinal lines proximate opposite adjacent edges of said panels, said opposite edges along said longitudinal lines being positioned within said tube and said longitudinal lines being transversely offset relative to corresponding proximate opposite edges of said tube to form rolled borders along opposite edges of said tube.

5. The article of claim 1, wherein said fiat tube is folded along a diagonal line to form superimposed fiat tube sections with said rolled borders facing upwardly.

6. The article of claim 5, wherein said fold line extends between the end edges of said flat tube.

7. The article of claim 4, wherein said panels are of different colors.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK J. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

